She is a good person about 30 years old. She is one with the universe and her own source of spirituality. She thinks the "fairy tails" in the bible are just that. She believes Jesus was a real person, but she also believes Buddah was too. I looked up who and what Buddah was. Some enlightened dead dude from 2500 years ago. DEAD !

I didn't "get" hippies back in the sixties and I really don't understand half of what they say today.

I have Tom Horn's book on answering atheism, but the basics escape me. Most things about Salvation and eternal life seem to be uninteresting to the hippie mindset.

Getting through by quoting scripture is usually a dead end. Remember, to a non-believer it is gibberish.

When you are a Bear of Very Little Brain, and you Think of Things, you find sometimes that a Thing which seemed very Thingish inside you is quite different when it gets out into the open and has other people looking at it.JeffreyLong.netJesusna.me@30thirteen

But seriously, if it were me, to add to what the brother above said, I would appeal to the idea of seeking truth. Classical hippies seemed to value the idea of truth; "Gimme Some Truth" was a John Lennon song as I recall. Maybe appeal to that sense of there being an ultimate truth?

Regards, Brenden.

"It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery."

I "second" morbo's recommendation for the book "The Universe Next Door." If your niece likes to read and is philosophically inclined (seeks to be informed, etc.), this book is the best I know of. You may want to read it yourself to see "where she's coming from."

I have a friend who's into "New Age." But from what I understand, this label is considered outdated these days. Some recent promoters of the worldview are calling it "21st Century Spirituality." Ravi Zacharias coins it "The New Spirituality."

In any event, I made a playlist on youtube that I named "Ex-New Agers." The first is an in-depth look at how a guy got into New Age and later became a Christian (his full testimony). He does the second vid, which has some stuff about biblical prophecy that I don't really agree with.

The next two vids are shorter and are the testimonies by two young women (30ish) who converted to Christ from New Age.

MMathis wrote:She believes Jesus was a real person, but she also believes Buddah was too. I looked up who and what Buddah was. Some enlightened dead dude from 2500 years ago. DEAD !

Yep. Buddha is considered "enlightened." And, yes, he's dead. But in Eastern Religion a fully-enlightened person does not cease to exist. Well, they do and they don't.

People talk a lot about "karma" these days. Very few know what it really means. "What you sow, you will reap" is often paraphrased (from the Bible) in support of "karma," as if the Bible teaches it, which it doesn't. The "sow & reap" comes from Galatians and is talking about what we do, good or bad, and what we will reap: life or corruption.

In Hindu and Buddhist philosophy, karma is worked through, so to speak, by millions and millions of reincarnations. Ghandi spoke of it as a curse! Karma involves being reincarnated in order to be perfected. That is, until you -- (though "you" become a different "you" each lifetime!) -- live a totally self-less life.

When this happens, Hindus, Buddhists, and "New Agers" will no longer be reincarnated (as another person, each time). They go to Nirvana. This isn't the Eastern counterpart to Heaven, though it is a little similar.

In Nirvana the person becomes part of the universe and will no longer personally exist. In other words, on New Age type beliefs, there will come a time when one "isn't" (no longer exists). =============

One other quick point: Does your niece ever pray? I mean, does she ask God (or whatever or whoever she considers God or "god" to be)?

The Christian God is personal, so she could pray to Him.

But in Eastern thought, "prayer" and/or meditation isn't you speaking to another personal being. It's ridding the mind of the illusion that anything & everything, us, and all of our problems are REAL! (The material world and everything (us included) is NOT REAL in "New Age")!

I'd say your niece needs to decide if she wants to know Someone (God and Jesus) or if she wants to "be one with It" and eventually become non-existent in Nirvana. That is, if Nirvana is real, which we Christians don't think so.

Lastly, I just posted this on another thread: (Monism is "New Age," Hinduism, and Buddhism):

I saw one of Ravi Zacharias's associates speaking to: worldviews on a U2B vid. He (forgot the guy's name) said there are three basic (or essential) worldviews. In terms of material reality and spiritual reality, there are:

Monism"All is God" -- everything in the universe, including peopleTheism"Both" -- the material is real, the spiritual is realAtheism"All is material" -- everything in the universe, including people

I worked the campgrounds for the most recent tour of The Dead. (They don't go by The Grateful Dead since Jerry died.) It was a really nice atmosphere, surprisingly. I worked other festivals, and they were just a bunch of frat boys drinking beer with girls in bikinis. But The Dead crowd had a broader demographic, and different ethic.

While people were parking in the campground, campers and the like would come in.. depending on their parking pass. During one afternoon, one of these h u g e motorhomes.. I don't know what you call them.. they are basically semi-trucks.. drove in. I looked at someone and said "The boomers have done well."

Steve's lecture on counter-culture Christianity points out that the 60's era hippies were not simply stoners, though they certainly were that. But they were a critique of culture. An alternative. People were talking about philosophy. Religion. Politics. Money. War. (Steve, correct me. You were there.) The Beatles really were examining Hare Krishna [sic]. Keith Green was seeking God through acid along with other things.

... and then they got rich, and as far as I'm concerned abandoned it all (not Keith of course.)

The boomers have done well.

All of that to say this. There's no price today to being a hippie. You can wear your tie-dye and hang your dreamcatcher and talk about oneness. It's hip to be a hippy. New Age is fashionable. But is your niece sitting with others in coffee shops and debating philosophy? War? Money? I agree with the previous poster about John Lennon. If she's really interested in thinking about these things.. which imo is more the embodiment of hippie.. then you can have conversations. Otherwise... like I said.. just love her.

When you are a Bear of Very Little Brain, and you Think of Things, you find sometimes that a Thing which seemed very Thingish inside you is quite different when it gets out into the open and has other people looking at it.JeffreyLong.netJesusna.me@30thirteen

That may have sounded a bit cynical, or negative. Sorry 'bout that. Show her love.

When you are a Bear of Very Little Brain, and you Think of Things, you find sometimes that a Thing which seemed very Thingish inside you is quite different when it gets out into the open and has other people looking at it.JeffreyLong.netJesusna.me@30thirteen

Hi - a friend told me that the Universe next door was required reading at YWAM. It would help to have a clear view of the differences in thought.

What do you say to a hippy? You might ought to say nothing, but listen. Get to know her - take an interest in her life - she probably does a lot of interesting things. Appreciate her where she is at. When I was a hippie atheist, and people asked me where I thought I would spend eternity, it would set back the 'cause of Christ' by miles. When a friend told me she did not need dope anymore because Jesus had filled her with his love - ah! it got my attention.

When there is no moral structure, sexually, life is a free-for-all, but eventually, jealousy will rear its ugly head because we just were not designed that way. What is her lifestyle like. What is her deepest need? Does she have a man? children? What questions can you ask that will get her thinking about where her life is heading? but not in a condescending way.

Jealousy captured me through the man of my life at the time. There was a woman in our crowd who tormented me with her references to my man's past with others. I realized I was not a 'free spirit', and when I called on God for the first time there were three things: That we would have enough marijuana so that I would not totally alienate my man before I could learn how to live without it. That some people who were being held hostage at the time would be freed. And, last and most important, a year after the first two were answered, that I would be free of hatred toward this woman. Hippies are supposed to be full of 'love joy peace'. Yeah.

NO ONE knew that I was asking these questions. But I was reading everything I could get my hands on about the supernatural and reincarnation and such - books that make most Christians gasp in horror, but they ALL talked about and claimed an 'in' with Jesus Christ. Even the little guru boy that everyone was following back then. Even the song from Jesus Christ Superstar played a major role in my conversion - "I don't know how to love Him" - how very true - the song stayed in my mind and haunted my heart -(though it was thought to to be blasphemous by some).

We don't know what others are thinking - we think in classifications, like I have an avid atheist friend whose hero is Christopher Hitchins, but i don't know what someone may be saying to him that is going to touch him. I do not know yet what he is looking for in life. I see what interests him on facebook but I am praying that the time will come. . . when I or someone else will say the very thing that unlocks his heart. It does not have to be me. I am finding out that he has other Christian friends. Didn't know that. It's not about me and what I can say. It is about God and how His Spirit can prompt the right thing that will trigger the man's heartstrings.

People are watching us. Do we walk in love - do we know what love is? Be blessed.

"Anything you think you know about God that you can't find in the person of Jesus, you have reason to question.” - anonymous